Frank Stella

Alfred H. Barr, Jr., New York (gift from the artist)
Thence by descent to the present owner

This work is in excellent condition overall. Please contact the Contemporary Art Department at (212) 606-7254 for the condition report prepared by Terrence Mahon. The canvas is not framed; the overturned edges are covered by black linen tape.
In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective qualified opinion.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING CONDITION OF A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD "AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF SALE PRINTED IN THE CATALOGUE.

"Art excludes the unnecessary. Frank Stella has found it necessary to paint stripes. There is nothing else in his painting. Frank Stella is not interested in expression or sensitivity. He is interested in the necessities of painting. Symbols are counters passed among people. Frank Stella's painting is not symbolic. His stripes are the paths of brush on canvas. These paths lead only into painting."

Carl Andre in Exh. Cat., New York, Museum of Modern Art, Sixteen Americans, 1959

“[The Benjamin Moore paintings] occupy a special position in Stella’s development in that they contain the root vocabulary of all that had gone before. It was as if he had worked his way back to the primary form of the patterns of which the Black and Copper pictures might be considered derivations…Stella had been working toward the tighter facture of the Benjamin Moore series all along”

William Rubin, Exh. Cat., New York, The Museum of Modern Art, Frank Stella 1970-1987, 1987, pp. 70-72